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WATCH THE FILM HERE with all proceeds going to the filmmakers!
First, the Recap:
There’s something beyond our comprehension, outside our realm, feeling like it’s right there, yet it seems totally unknowable. The sense that there’s more going on around us than we might realize is both fascinating and unsettling when we cannot say for absolute sure that what we view is all that exists. The unexplainable becomes a key connection for two young women (Hazel Rodes and Ashley Wood) who have a notion they’re not alone, yet can barely put a finger on what exactly it is the seem to allow them to feel each other’s presence–even though they are literally across dimensions from the other. Can they, will they, ever find a means to meet?
Next, my Mind:
What could certainly be construed as an esoteric exploration of our entire perception of reality and its significance in our journeys on every level–physical, mental, and spiritual–this 10-minute short from writer/director/producer/editor Ed Carter (“Letters From Eniwetok“) which screened at the 2020 Berlin Revolution Film Festival, traverses deeply explorative realms that leaves the viewer in some measure perplexed yet on another oddly enraptured in its narrative that finds two women separated by an unknown actual distance being drawn into each other’s space with ghostly effect and impact of them both.
It plumbs the notions of our human awareness, our consciousness, our cognizance in being connected to this Earthly realm and how often it seems like all we relate to is based solely on that which exists in our immediate circle and visual world. Yet, here, in this critic’s opinion, it shines an intriguing light on how forces outside ourselves might guide us to see and experience things well beyond the surface actuality we know and even be directly influenced by it, despite not understanding it. Also, I feel it’s pictured how this kind of portrayed circumstance can be both a fascination or a totally unnerving ordeal.
It then can raise questions overall as to anything we encounter where there’s something or even someone affected by the actions we take and vice versa, potentially coming closer and closer until suddenly worlds connect and whether that is for the better or worse remains to be seen. As this effort’s finale comes about, it leaves you wondering precisely how these two young women end up immersed in each other’s reality–Did they actually merge, effectively becoming one entity? Was their own idea of reality now skewed into one? I felt that’s partially shown and partially not without directly stating what happens. Watch and see, as trust me, I could be way off here! Also worth pointing out is the deft utilization of the film’s music score, which genuinely and highly effectively creates the needed atmosphere throughout the story.
Rodes and Wood are a full-on tag team here as actors when it comes to the two primary characters involved with this quirky take on the idea of extra-dimensional meetings, and they both do an excellent job at emoting through body language and the associated actions and reactions their characters have to the uncanny adventure they find themselves wrapped up in. Without any spoken dialogue to aid in moving the narrative forward, each actress addresses their character with equal fervor so as to express the intricacies of surprise, curiosity, and fear they meet while trying to ascertain what it is that’s buffeting their being respectively. For me, it’s a credit to actors who can successfully tell a story without words, and Rodes and Wood pull it off in fine fashion here.
So, in total, “Spring II” is almost an amalgamation of sci-fi soul and metaphysical theory as it flows along and takes us on a far-out trip beyond the mainstream realms, which is precisely why indie film continues to be an ever-rising force that needs to, should be, and WILL be reckoned with.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
